Apparatus for making sound records or blanks.



No. 790,516. y i PATENTBD MAY 2s, 1905. W. H. MILLBR.& A. N. PIBRMAN.

APPARATUS PoR MAKING SOUND NBGONDS 0R BLANKS.

APPLICATION FILED 1020.26, 1903.

[j l\ i INVENTORS- A terne y UNITED STATES IPatented VIay 26, 190g.

4PATENT" OEEICE.

WALTER PI. MILLER, OE ORANGE, AND ALEXANDER N. PIERMAN, OE NEW- ARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNORS TO NEW JERSEY PATENT COMPANY, OE ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION vOE NEW JERSEY.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING SOUND RECORDS OR BLANKS- SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent'No. 790,516, dated May 23, 1905.

Application filed December 26,1903. Serial No.|186,649.

` To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, WALTER H. MILLER, residing at Orange, and ALEXANDER N. PIER- IvIAN, residing at Newark, in the County of 5 Essex and State of New Jersey, citizens of the United States,have invented a certain new and. useful Apparatus for Making Sound Records or Blanks, of which the following is a description.

vIO Our invention relates to improved apparatus for making sound 'records or blanks, and particularly of the type set forth in our Patents Nos. 726,966 and 726,967, dated May 5, 1903, in which a mass o f fibrous material is distributed through the wax-like substance so as to make the resultingarticle of greatly increased durability. In making records of this type we first applied a layer of cottonbatting to a tapered core, which was then introduced into a mold, and a molten wax-like material was then allowed to enter the space between the core and the mold to impregnate.

the brous material.

1n carrying the process In question into practice it was found that since the sheet of fibrous material was of substantially the same thickness throughout its application to a tapered core resulted in a'variation in the density of the fibrous mass, such density gradually increasing from the upper and smaller end of the core toward the lower and larger end thereof. This variation in the density of the fibrous mass resulted in very considerable Variations in the distribution of the Wax-like material going into the make-up of the resulting articles. Thus where the record or blank was thinnest there would be a relatively great :mass of fibrous material and a relatively small amount of the wax-like material and at the thickest end a relatively small amount of the fibrous material and a disproportionately large bulk of the Wax-like substance. These variations in the structure of the composite article resulted in unequal expansion and contraction through the mass and made the proportion of discards due to cracking objectionably large.

The object of our present invention is to overcome this objection and to permit of the manufacture of sound records and blanks which shall be substantially uniform both in bulk and in strueturethroughout their entire mass. This will be so whether the improved apparatus is used in the manufacture of composite records of the type described in our patents above referred to or whether the sound records or blanks are of the usual type. Furthermore, the improved apparatus permits of the manufacture of sound records or blanks wherein a minimum amount of material is used, whereby the cost of production will be correspondingly reduced.

To this end the invention consists in the features hereinafter described and claimed.

In Order that the invention may be better understood, attention is directed'to the accompanying drawings, forminga part of this specification, and yin whichl Figure 1 is a sectional View of the improved apparatus in its preferred form, and Fig. 2 a front elevation of the core.

1n both of the views corresponding partsl are represented by the same numerals of ref-- erence.

The base l is formed with the integral core 2 and is also provided with a rim 3, having a tapered inner face for receiving a mold 4. This mold is made in any suitable way, and when duplicate sound-records are to be produced it is formed on its inner surface with the negative representation of the sound-record by any usual and well-known process. When the apparatus is to be used for theV manufacture of blanks, 'a perfectly plain mold is used. The core 2 for its main exterior portion is of substantially the same diameter throughout; but preferably it is very ,slightly tapering toward its upper end, this taper being about live one-thousandths of an inch. Above the main approximately cylindrical portionV the core is provided with a reduced cylindrical portion 4:', so as to form a collar 5 on the upper portion of the resulting molded article, as will be obvious. The core EZ is formed on its exterior face with one or more spiral grooves 6 of gradually-Increasing depth from the lower end upward. Preferably two of these spiral grooves are employed to facilitate and expedite the removal of the core from the molded article. The spiral groove or grooves may actually extend into the reduced cylindrical portion 4, as shown, to form one or more very shallow ribs on the inner face of the collar 5; but in the subsequent reaming of the article these shallow portions will be trimmed off so that the finished article on its inner surface will present a flat collar 5, from which the rib or ribs extend spirally downward. Above the reduced portion 4 the core is formed with a cylindrical portion 6 of less diameter, which acts as a -shield to prevent the cooling-water from fiowing over the top of the core. The core is preferably hollow, as shown, and secured within its upper portion is a plug 7, into which is threaded a rod 8, by which the apparatus may be manipulated. The plug 7 is formed with openings 9 therein to permit the waX-like material or cooling-water to freely enter the hollow core. Mounted on the rod 8 is a disk 10, having a depending fiange 11, which fits around the mold 4 so as to center the same with respect to the core, as will be understood.

In operation the parts are assembled as shown in Fig. 1, a layer of fibrous material 12 being preferably first wound loosely around the core before the introduction of the mold over the same, and the apparatus is then introduced into a suitable molten mass of waX- like material. Preferably the mold is first elevated to permit the wax-like material to be thoroughly impregnated with the wax, as we describe in Patent No. 7 71,880, granted Oetober 11, 1904. The mold is then returned to its normal position, Fig. 1, thereby trapping the molten wax-like material between the core and the mold. This wax-like material also surrounds the mold and enters the core, so that the core and mold quickly reach the temperature of the wax-like material. Instead of followingthis procedure the mold may be slightly lifted from the base 1 to permit the molten wax-like material to enter the space between the core and mold from the bottom, rising slowly, so as to impregnate the fibrous material and driving all air before it, as we des'cribe in our Patent No. 726,967, before referred to.

After the wax-like material has entered the space between the core and mold, so as to thoroughly impregnate the fibrous material, the apparatus is removed from the heatingtank, and the core and mold are then preferably simultaneously chilled by jets of cold water, so as to coagulate and solidify the mass. The disk 10 is then removed, the rod 8 is unscrewed from the plug 7, and the core 2 is unscrewed from the east article. The mold 12 is then allowed to further cool either artificially or by means of a water-jacket `until the cast article shrinks diametrieally to an extent to clear the surfaces, whereupon it is removed and reamed on its interior and finished on its ends, being then complete.

We do not claim herein the improved article of manufacture resulting from the operation of our apparatus, but will make the same the subject of a separate concurrent application.

Having now described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A core around which a sound record or blank is cast of substantially the same diameter throughout and having a spiral groove therein of gradually-varying depth, substantially as set forth.

2. A core around which a sound record or blank is cast of substantially the same diameter throughout with a plurality ol spiral grooves therein of gradually-varying depth, substantially as set forth.

3. A core around which a sound record or blank is cast of a very slight taper throughout its main portion and formed with a spiral groove therein of gradually-varying depth, substantially as set forth.

4. A core around which a sound record or blank is cast having a very slight taper and provided with a plurality of spiral grooves of Varying depth throughout, substantially as set forth.

5. Apparatus for casting sound records or blanks comprising a mold and a core within the mold of substantially the same diameter throughout and provided with a spiral groove of varying depth throughout, substantially as set forth.

6. Apparatus for molding sound records or blanks comprising in combination a mold and acore therein of substantially the same diameter throughout and provided with a plurality of spiral grooves of varying depth throughout, substantially as set forth.

7. Apparatus for casting duplicate records or blanks comprising in combination a core, a base secured thereto, a rim carried by thc base said rim having an inclined inner face and a mold loosely seated on said base within the rim and capable of being` freely inserted or withdrawn therefrom, substantially as set forth.

This specification signed and witnessed this IIO 

